Democracy Now
Earlier this month, former Black Panther Assata Shakur was added to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List, becoming the first woman ever to make the list. In addition, the state of New Jersey announced it was adding $1 million to the FBI's $1 million reward for her capture. She was convicted in the May 2, 1973, killing of a New Jersey police officer during a shootout that left one of her fellow activists dead. She was shot twice by police during the incident. In 1979, she managed to escape from jail. Shakur fled to Cuba where she received political asylum. Shakur has long proclaimed her innocence and accused federal authorities of political persecution. We ask NAACP President Benjamin Jealous about her case. "We have not taken any position on the Shakur case," Jealous says. "But I do think that if we are going to heal as a nation, we must look at the violence, the sort of politically motivated violence on both sides, and figure out how we heal both at once."
